A "SUPER" CRESCENT MOON AND VENUS: When the sun goes down tonight (May 17th), step outside and look west. A beautifully slender crescent Moon is passing by Venus in the twilight sky. Take a closer look at that Moon. Does the crescent seem extra big and bright? You might be right. It's a "supermoon."

On May 17th the Moon is at perigee--that is, the side of the Moon's elliptical orbit closest to Earth. This makes the Moon 5% wider and almost 11% brighter than average crescent moons of the same phase. You've probably heard the term "supermoon" applied to full Moons. It applies to crescents as well.

This is also a good night to see the Da Vinci Glow, also known as "Earthshine." Inside the arms of the lunar crescent there is a faint image of the full Moon. That is caused by sunlight reflected from Earth onto the dark lunar surface. In the northern hemisphere, Earthshine is extra visible in spring because springtime crescent Moons are high in the sky at sunset.

A springtime super crescent Moon with Earthshine and Venus? It doesn't get much better than that.

Less cliche than "it doesn't get much better than that," some have referred to it as Orion dunking the ball (moon) right over Taurus, for those with an astro app on the phone. http://spaceweather.com/ -thought the page will change soon

Furthermore, their tests showed that it works with every single species of coral found in the Florida Reef.

In fact, the method is so efficient, the researchers are reportedly producing coral faster than they can get tanks to hold them.

Vaughan’s team now plans on planting 100,000 corals on the Florida Reef Track by 2019. The researchers also plan on sharing their method with conservationists around the world so they can collectively plant one million corals within the next few years.

Multiple research teams have been investigating P. gingivalis, and have so far found that it invades and inflames brain regions affected by Alzheimer’s; that gum infections can worsen symptoms in mice genetically engineered to have Alzheimer’s; and that it can cause Alzheimer’s-like brain inflammation, neural damage, and amyloid plaques in healthy mice.

SPRINGTIME CRACKS ARE OPENING IN EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD: Studies show that March is the most geomagnetically active month of the year. The reason is springtime. Researchers have long known that around the time of the vernal equinox "cracks" tend to form in Earth's magnetic field. Solar wind pours in to energize magnetic unrest. Such a crack opened this weekend, sparking spectacular Northern Lights. Read today's edition of Spaceweather.com to learn more about the phenomenon.

The south polarized solar wind interacts with the northward pointing geomagnetic field of the earth, to an extant cancelling each other out, and creating these openings, or 'cracks' into which the solar winds pour. In solar storms they can leave the sun surface as a coronal mass ejection at 2 million + degrees F and travel here at 200 to 500 miles per second. The pic is from Tomso, Norway, 3 days ago.